Jay Cutler

McGrath: Bears Stay Within Comfort Zone
Sun, 02/05/2012
Remove the Heisman Trophy from the discussion and I don’t know if Phil Emery knows Robert Griffin III from Robert Goulet. I would assume he does; Emery has spent more than a decade traversing the country in search of N.F.L.-caliber players for three pro teams. But his eye for talent was hardly the focal point of a recent Halas Hall news conference...

McGrath: Poor Decisions, Missed Signals Doomed Angelo
Tue, 01/03/2012
On Monday, while offering his post mortem on the Bears’ break-even season, coach Lovie Smith tried to spin a desultory 1-5 finish forward. He claimed the Bears were a solid football team, had practically been a lock for a playoff berth, only to be undone by injuries to key players, which they’d managed to avoid while reaching the NFC Championship...

McGrath: The New Look Bears
Tue, 11/08/2011
All that what’s-wrong-with-the-Bears grumbling that swept Chicago during the first month of the NFL season? Put it to rest. The Bears announced their presence as a playoff contender Monday night—loudly—with a quality win over a quality opponent in a hostile venue. A 30-24 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field was the...

McGrath: Bears Rediscover Roots
Sun, 10/02/2011
So that’s what a running back looks like. The Bears were the home base for NFL immortals Red Grange, Gale Sayers and Walter Payton, and coach Lovie Smith has long summed up their offensive philosophy by insisting, “We get off the bus running.” But they had drifted away from that legacy in recent weeks, turning slick runner Matt Forte into a pass...

McGrath: Cutler is No Rodgers
Sun, 09/25/2011
Mike Martz can expect to spend another week in the center of the storm that is allegiance to the Chicago Bears. The pass-happy play-caller was roundly criticized for an offensive imbalance that took much of the blame for the Bears’ 31-13 drubbing by the New Orleans Saints last week. On Sunday it got worse. The Bears were more air-oriented than...

McGrath: Bears Won't Cure City Sports Slump
Mon, 09/12/2011
A lost summer of baseball in Chicago has raised the stakes on the Bears’ season, although it’s not like our sports-minded citizenry needed another Carlos Zambrano meltdown or the disaster that is Adam Dunn to get all tingly over Jay Cutler and his associates. Oprah has come and gone, as have M.J., two Mayors Daley and the Sears Tower. The Bears...

McGrath: Giddiness in Bears Camp
Fri, 08/12/2011
Every time a major league player flips a baseball into the stands in response to a fan’s entreaty, it’s a reminder of the strike that truncated the 1994 season and wiped out that year’s entire postseason. Were you angry? Many baseball fans were, and never mind the issues. They saw the players’ decision to walk off the job, and the owners’...

Rose Validates MVP Chants
Tue, 04/19/2011
Derrick Rose validated his claim to the NBA’s Most Valuable Player award in an oddly roundabout way Monday night. Simply put, the MVP is the player who means the most to his team. Rose, far and away the best and most productive player on a 62-win Chicago Bulls team, fit that description better than anyone else who drew an NBA paycheck this season...